GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer media advocacy organization, has released the findings of its annual Where We Are in Film (WWAF) study, which examines films released from January 1 – December 31, 2025.
The researchers found that the number of LGBTIQA+ characters being featured in films has decreased for the third year in a row.
This study centers research and analysis on the 10 largest studio distributors – A24, Amazon Studios, Apple TV, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony Pictures Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Discovery – including their subsidiary distribution labels and majority-owned streaming services. This study was previously titled the Studio Responsibility Index, but has been renamed to align it with the institute’s similar annual report that looks into television.
There were 225 films released in 2025 by the 10 distributors whose slates were tracked in this study. Of those 225 films, 46 contained LGBTQ characters (20.4%). This is a decrease from the 23.6% inclusive films (59 of 250) counted in 2024. This is the third year in a row to see a decrease in the percentage of LGBTQ inclusive films from a record high 28.5% of films in the 2023 study.
GLAAD counted a total of 112 LGBTQ characters in the 46 films, a decrease of 69 characters from the 181 LGBTQ characters in the previous year’s inclusive films. Alarmingly there were zero transgender characters counted in the 2025 slate of films, and a significant decrease of 30% in the number of LGBTQ character who were also people of colour.
There were also less bisexual people depicted in films, and a decrease in the amount of people with a disability who were also shown to gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. For the first time the study looked at characters who were depicted as living with HIV, finding only two in the whole year – both were in the film Fairyland.
The report also found that animated and children’s films now included no characters who were LGBTQ. The finding comes as the American Federal Communications Commission (FCC) suggest that a warning might be needed in the future to alert parents to the presence of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people in stories.
Sarah Kate Ellis, the President and CEO of GLAAD said audiences were looking for diversity to depicted on screen. One area where there was still a strong representation of LGBTQ characters was horror films, something which Ellis says studios should pay attention to.
“Audiences across the board are seeking out original and inclusive stories. Our study found LGBTQ stories in film that are both commercially and critically successful. In fact, every theatrically released LGBTQ-inclusive horror film made back over double the film’s production budget. If the industry doesn’t prioritize investing in films with LGBTQ characters, it risks losing a generation that will go elsewhere to find entertainment that does include our community.”
While the overall depiction of LGBTQ people dropped over the last year, the quality of the depictions of people might have improved. Each year the researchers apply the Vito Russo Test to the range of portrays found in the last year. Like the Bechdel Test which accesses films for the quality of depictions of women, this test looks to see if depictions are token or realistic.
Named after celebrated film historian Vito Russo who published the book The Celluloid Closet, it consider how people are depicted and if the representation avoids stereotypes, tropes and using LGBTQ people as a punchline. This year 78% of the films accessed passed this test, that’s a higher rate than the four previous reports.
Declaration: OUTinPerth staff have undertaken training with the GLAAD Media Institute.
